Background
Matt Whitaker Ransom was born on October 8, 1826, in Warren County, North Carolina. He was the son of Robert and Priscilla Whitaker Ransom, the latter a native of Halifax County.
North Carolina, United States
Matt was prepared for college at the Warrenton Academy.
Chapel Hill, NC, United States
Matt entered the University of North Carolina in 1844, was graduated in 1847.
Matt Whitaker Ransom was born on October 8, 1826, in Warren County, North Carolina. He was the son of Robert and Priscilla Whitaker Ransom, the latter a native of Halifax County.
Prepared for college at the Warrenton Academy, Matt entered the University of North Carolina in 1844, was graduated in 1847.
Having studied law during his senior year, Matt Whitaker Ransom was at once admitted to the bar. He began practice in Warrenton and, proving to be a highly magnetic jury lawyer, soon achieved success.
He represented Northampton in the House of Commons from 1858 to 1861, and in 1861 was chosen by the legislature as one of a commission of three to represent the state near the Confederate government in Montgomery, Alabama.
At this time a strong Union man, he opposed secession, but with Lincoln's call for troops, he at once volunteered as a private in the Confederate army, and was almost immediately commissioned lieutenant-colonel of the 16t North Carolina Regiment. He became colonel of the 35th Regiment in 1862, and in June 1863 brigadier-general, succeeding his brother Robert in command of the brigade of which his old regiment formed a part. During the war, he participated in the battles of Seven Pines, Malvern Hill, Sharpsburg, Plymouth, Drewry's Bluff, Fort Stedman, and Five Forks, as well as in numerous skirmishes, and surrendered his brigade at Appomattox.
Ransom was twice wounded at Malvern Hill, and once at Drewry's Bluff. He was not a trained soldier and never became a tactician, but he was a born leader of men, and the officers and soldiers of his brigade idolized him and continued to do so as long as he lived. At the close of the war, Ransom returned to farming and the practice of law, taking no part in the bitter politics of the day. But when the Kirk-Holden war came in 1870, and the writ of habeas corpus was suspended by William Woods Holden, Ransom, much disturbed at the invasion of fundamental civil rights, persuaded Judge George W. Brooks of the United States district court to issue the writ; when the United States government supported the judge the movement to overawe the state collapsed.
In 1872 Ransom was elected to the federal Senate to succeed Zebulon B. Vance, who had been elected in 1870 but denied his seat because of disabilities. Ransom was returned repeatedly and served until 1895. In Washington he acquired considerable influence, though he seldom spoke, his speech "The South Faithful to Her Duties," delivered in 1875, being his only formal speech during his senatorial career. But he was a leader in securing the compromise of 1876-1877 by which the disputed presidential election was peacefully settled, and to him belongs much of the credit for the defeat of the Federal Election Bill, popularly known as the Lodge "Force Bill," of 1890.
As chairman of the committee on the Potomac Riverfronts, which was appointed upon his motion, he developed the plans which resulted in the transformation of the Potomac Flats into Potomac Park. As a result of a fusion of Populists and Republicans in North Carolina, he was defeated in 1895, and President Cleveland at once appointed him minister to Mexico, where he remained for two years. During this time he acted as arbitrator in finally settling the dispute between Mexico and Guatemala.
Matt Ransom then retired permanently to private life. While he was in the Senate, Ransom was active in politics in North Carolina, being a member of the Democratic national committee from 1876 to 1895, and canvassing a large part of the state in every campaign.
A Whig in politics, Ransom was a candidate for elector on the Scott ticket in 1852 and became so widely and favorably known from this campaign that the succeeding legislature, although Democratic, elected him attorney general of the state. Three years later, when the Know-Nothing party absorbed the Whigs in North Carolina, he refused to support the move, resigned his office, and was thereafter identified with the Democratic party.
Like many North Carolinians, Ransom had been reluctant to see his state leave the Union; though he owned slaves at the onset of the war, he strongly believed that slavery was a doomed institution.
Matt was always deeply serious; and his faultless diction, rounded periods, and powerful arguments could hold a popular audience spellbound for hours.
Physical Characteristics: Ransom was tall and of the impressive figure, possessed of a rich and resonant voice.
On January 19, 1853, Ransom had married Martha Anne, the daughter of Joseph Exum of Northampton County. Of the eight children born to them, six survived their father.